"Analysis of the Musical Cryptograms by BAUDOUIN DE JAER. De Jaer had not been previously exposed to Wölfli's work. He was completely moved by the artistic and human dimensions of the mystery surrounding this gigantic and universal body of work created within the Waldau hospital in the early 20th century. He managed what none other had accomplished before: to decode Wölfli's hermetic and emblematic scores. Adolf Wölfli (1864-1930) was a Swiss artist who was one of the first artists to be associated with the Art Brut or outsider art label. In 1908, Wölfli started developing what would become a potentially endless narrative stretched across 25,000 pages interrupted only by Wölfli's death in 1930. His images also incorporated an idiosyncratic musical notation. This notation seemed to start as a purely decorative affair but later developed into real composition which Wölfli would play on a paper trumpet." (label info)